


Carl's summer lesson

by dreamerbydawn



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: 5 Times, Carl observes Ian and Mickey, Carl's a curious kid, Hurt/ Comfort sort of., Ian and Mickey - Established relationship, M/M, [Spring break draft clean up]
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-02
Updated: 2015-04-02
Packaged: 2018-03-20 21:28:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3665739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamerbydawn/pseuds/dreamerbydawn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>5 times Carl hears Mickey call Ian by name and the one thing he learns from it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Carl's summer lesson

5 times Carl hears Mickey call Ian by name and the one thing he learns from it.

Carl Gallagher is a curious kid. 

It’s how he knows things. He makes sure to observe his surroundings and when his interest is piqued, he doesn’t stop till he finds the answers he needs. It’s not difficult, mostly he asks his family or looks it up himself. 

Observing things sometimes means he registers a few of them subconsciously as well. Like he knows when Lip has masturbated in the bathroom by the expression on his face when he walks out, and the first day of Fiona’s period every month by the extra sugar she for some reason dumps into her coffee, and those are just not the sort of things younger brothers want to know. But he can’t help knowing it. 

One of the other things Carl knows but has never given a thought to, was the many names Mickey calls Ian. He’s heard them of course, the list including, but not limited to - Gallagher, Firecrotch, tough guy, dumbass, mumbles, sleepy face, army, red, freckles. 

Obviously it’s a long list, and Carl doesn’t remember everything on it, but he’s seen Lip trying to be an ass and tell Mickey, that Ian actually has a name that the Milkovich could try to remember. Still Ian never seemed bothered, so Carl wasn’t either. 

Lip was definitely right though; The only thing Mickey never called his boyfriend was by his name.

No one has heard Mickey Milkovich call him Ian. 

Until that summer. 

i. 

Ian and Mickey had stayed over after Debbie’s birthday dinner last night, sharing Ian’s old bed in the boys room and the older boy was still fast asleep. Ian however had woken when he heard Carl ransacking the room for a pair of socks. 

His tallest brother had given him a questioning look before slightly nudging his boyfriend with a whispered ‘breakfast Mick’ and then getting out of bed. Carl didn’t wait to see Mickey rub sleep from his eyes, still busy looking for socks under his bed when he heard Ian curse loudly. 

He whirled around just in time to see the redhead fall back on the bed, face contorted. It took him a second to notice Ian was bleeding, the foot he held up having a ninja star embedded on the underside of it. 

“Jesus fuck Ian” Mickey exclaimed, moving the same time as Carl. 

The younger boy watched as Ian pulled out the metal from where it was nestled in flesh and Mickey was already dragging the bleeding foot into his lap. 

“Sorry” Carl apologised, distracting Ian from Mickey’s attention. 

“’S fine man, just don’t leave em lying around alright?” Ian waved away the apology and Carl only nodded before exiting the room when Mickey was still busy. 

ii. 

Ian and Lip had been at each other’s throats again and it was becoming an increasingly common occurrence these last few years. The older of the two had just stormed out, slamming the door behind him. 

Ian simply stood in the middle of the living room, hands fisted and an expression of pure frustration on his face, one that Carl hopes would never be directed at him because, fuck. Ian was scary when he looked mad. 

He noticed his sisters exchanging worried glances, the room still tensely silent until surprisingly Mickey intervened. 

“Hey Ian, come on man, he’s an asshole” The Milkovich called out and just like that the tension broke, Ian’s face losing the hard edge. 

“Yeah, think I need a smoke” Ian mumbled, glancing in Mickey’s direction for a moment before the two of them left the room. 

iii. 

Ian was watching Liam for the day, or he was supposed to be anyway. Instead he was now curled up on the couch and Fiona was fussing over him. She had already called Vee and Mickey both.

The sick redhead had insisted he was fine, and just asked his sister to get Liam away from him, so he wouldn’t catch whatever Ian had. Carl stayed in the room, frowning at the sight of a heavily blanketed big brother. 

He wasn’t sure why Ian had bothered getting out of bed, when he looked like he was dying, and Fiona kept muttering about how every time Ian got a fever, his temperature would just straight up sky rocket. 

All signs of Ian pretending to be fine however, vanished the minute Mickey entered the room. The shorter boy crouched down next to his boyfriend and was feeling his forehead when Ian blinked his eyes open. 

“Feel like shit Mick” Carl heard his brother admit. 

“You’re gonna be fine Ian” Mickey soothed gently. 

Carl watched them a little longer, leaving only when he saw Mickey get the soup from Fiona and then settle himself on the couch with Ian pressed against him. 

iv. 

Monica was back. The Gallagher house was on high alert and Carl couldn’t sleep. He was afraid of closing his eyes and waking up to blood, so he was staring stubbornly at the ceiling. 

He heard Ian enter the room, Mickey was already in his bed, having come in a few minutes ago. 

“Carl asleep?” Ian questioned quietly. 

“Think so, kid’s not moved since I got in” Mickey replied. 

Carl heard Ian’s sigh, and then a few shuffling sounds as his brother climbed up onto his bed, and he assumed that was it, until the whispers started again. 

“You okay to stay here?” Mickey checked quietly. 

“No” Ian answered, voice a little constricted. “And I know Fiona and Lip can handle Monica but someone’s gotta stay for Debs and Carl”

Mickey seemed to stay silent but there was a sound of movement, the bed creaking a bit before he heard a sob. It was quite, and he was sure he imagined it, until the sound continued, joined by Mickey shushing gently. 

“I hate her. I hate what she did to me. I just can’t Mick” Ian’s broken words stunned Carl, he had never seen Ian cry over anything. He was the strong one. He was always the strong one. 

“I fuckin hate her too. But Ian, I promise she’s not gonna screw you over again alright?” Mickey gave his word, and Carl couldn’t help curl into himself. 

He didn’t want to listen to his brother cry, but he didn’t want to interrupt the two of them either, not when they thought he was sleeping. 

So he stayed where he was and stayed awake long after Ian had fallen asleep in Mickey’s arms. 

v. 

Carl was running after his brother. He was afraid Ian would disappear again and had to follow. He didn’t want to lose him, he couldn’t. 

At that moment, he hated Frank as much as the rest of his siblings. He didn’t know why it was always Ian that got hit and this time, the tallest Gallagher had hit back. 

One well aimed left hook and the older man had collapsed to the ground. Carl and Lip had helped carry Frank to the trash as usual and once done, Ian took off. 

He refused to come back in to get his bleeding nose looked at, said something about going home and simply walked away. Carl had waited for three minutes, staring until Lip returned back inside, before taking off after him. 

He was getting increasingly worried because Ian was not headed in the direction of the Milkovich house and followed him to an old abandoned building instead. 

He wanted to make his presence known, maybe talk to his brother or something, but Ian had disappeared upstairs and two minutes later, he could hear gunshots. 

Now more worried, Carl took off towards the source of the sound, freezing in the doorway when he saw Ian with his back to Carl and firing a gun with perfect accuracy at a target, quite a distance away. 

It was pretty cool but at the same time scary. Carl did not want to approach him just yet and figured maybe he’d wait on the stairs. The plan didn’t go so well when he heard someone else approach. 

On instinct Carl took off up the stairs, ready to hide until Ian dealt with the stranger, because one, this was a shadier part of town that even Carl stayed out of and two, his brother had a gun and might shoot someone, which Carl definitely wanted to see. Besides, if he was found, Ian would rescue him anyway. 

So Carl hid, tensed for a few short breaths until he saw Mickey walk past and into where Ian had a shooting range. Deciding it was safer now to crawl out and maybe tell Mickey what had happened, Carl went back out, freezing again at the doorway. 

The Milkovich was leaned up against a pillar a few feet in front of him, stance casual like Ian being badass was normal occurrence and stayed silent while his brother shot a few more rounds.

“Fucking Frank! Fucking son of a bitch! He’s not even my fucking father!” Ian yelled, thoroughly startling Carl, who had never once seen him lose his temper like this. 

Even in fights, Ian generally had a calm rage that intimidated even Lip’s infuriated yelling. So seeing him shout was something wholly new. 

“Should have let me kill him. Still can” Mickey offered coolly. 

“Fuck you.” Ian snapped “And don’t fucking remind me he’s the reason you got thrown into juvie. Might kill him myself”

Two more rounds in his target and Ian was reloading his gun, Mickey was still relaxed where he was and Carl was pretty sure at this point that the target was, in Ian’s mind at least, Frank.

“I give fuck all about Monica, want nothing to do with her. You know what that means? I’m not even a Gallagher. Don’t want to be anyway!” Ian raged, finishing his sentence with a few more bullets in his target. 

“You’re gonna keep going back for the kids. And because Fiona fucking raised you and asshole was your best friend” Mickey pointed out. 

“Can you fucking not remind me of that for two goddamn minutes?” Ian growled, firing five consecutive shots. 

“I don’t want to go back, it’s not their fault but I fucking hate this, makes me feel shit I don’t want to” Ian admitted, voice lower now. Apparently having filled out his quota of yelling for now. 

“I know man” Mickey consoled, finally getting away from the pillar and walking over to Ian, wrapping his arms around the taller boy, who immediately turned to bury his face in Mickey’s shoulder. 

“You know I’ve got you Ian” The Milkovich says, before sighing “Now let me see how many of Frank’s bones I gotta break”

Carl didn’t stay to watch the rest. He was still a bit thrown by what he had just seen and just wanted to get away without being noticed. 

* 

It had been an eventful summer and all that, but the most important lesson he had learned over the break? 

The only time Mickey Milkovich stopped the endless stream of nicknames for his boyfriend, was when something was wrong and that meant one thing. 

He never wanted to hear Mickey call Ian by his name again. 

He was even fine with hearing “Ey! Dick sucker, you didn’t lock the door” when he walked in on an ongoing blowjob.

**Author's Note:**

> Did I mention Carl and Ian are my two favorite Gallaghers? Anyway feel free to let me know what you think of this one! x x


End file.
